Delhi poll: AAP releases second list, drops 18 out of 20 sitting MLAs; Sisodia gets new seat

AAP releases list of candidates for Delhi Assembly election, causing controversy over seat changes and defections.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday issued its second list of candidates for the Delhi Assembly election due in February next year. The list of 20 candidates has 18 new names while two sitting MLAs — former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Deputy Assembly Speaker Rakhi Birla — have been shifted to other seats.

The list prompted the BJP to remark that the manner in which Mr. Sisodia and Ms. Birla have switched constituencies shows that senior party leaders have “lost their political ground”. Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav said that the list showed that AAP had “conceded defeat” even before the announcement of the election date.

AAP released its first list of candidates for 11 constituencies on November 21, including the eight that it had lost to the BJP in the 2020 poll. In it, the party dropped the three sitting legislators and fielded candidates who recently switched over from the BJP and the Congress on six seats.

AAP has been in power in Delhi since 2015. It won 67 of the 70 seats in the 2015 Assembly poll and 62 in the 2020 election.

Addressing a press conference, AAP’s Delhi convener Gopal Rai said most of the new names on the list are the party’s own councillors. “They were chosen on the basis of their performance. The party has been gathering feedback from the public in every constituency,” said Mr. Rai.

There are several seats where councillors have replaced the sitting MLAs. AAP’s Adarsh Nagar MLA Pawan Sharma was dropped in favour of Leader of the House in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi Mukesh Goel. In Mundka, MLA Dharampal Lakhra has been replaced by Rani Khera councillor Jasbir Karala. Pravin Kumar, a councillor, is set to contest from Janakpuri replacing Rajesh Rishi. AAP councillor Dinesh Bharadwaj has been picked in Narela over sitting MLA Sharad Kumar Chauhan.

AAP has also fielded a couple of candidates who crossed over from the BJP last week. Former two-time MLA Surendra Pal Singh Bittu, who has been fielded from Timarpur, joined the party on December 6, hours after the sitting MLA, Dilip Pandey, hinted at taking a break from electoral politics. The other candidate, former AAP legislator Jitender Singh Shunty, has been fielded from Shahdara, replacing sitting MLA and Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, who announced retirement from politics earlier this month citing old age.